Email reply from Hotboat.com

[No Butt No Putt]

The website came down to be redesigned and should be back up by the first of the year, hopefully. The deal with charging people is, subscribers to the magazine can post on a moderated forum for free. If they want to post to the non-moderated forum it will cost them $9.95 a year. People who are not subscribers will have to pay $49.95 a year to subscribe to it. Let me know if you have any other questions.

 

[rrrr]

Let me know if you have any other questions.

I have one for 'em.......

How could you possibly be so phucking stupid?

 

[Topless]

RIP Hotboat.:beer

 

[1bdhondo]

Thats just stupid.

 

[mrs. bordsmnj]

How will they determine who subsribes? I mean, we subscribe to hotboat mag, does that mean only one of us can be a member? :smackhead

 

[Phebus]

How will they determine who subsribes? I mean, we subscribe to hotboat mag, does that mean only one of us can be a member? :smackhead

Head of household.

 

[RiverDave]

How will they determine who subsribes? I mean, we subscribe to hotboat mag, does that mean only one of us can be a member? :smackhead

Good question..

And what's with the moderated vs paying for non moderated?

RD

 

[Photo Chick]

That really is ignorant!

Hasta la vista HB!!!

 

[Sleeper CP]

I have one for 'em.......

How could you possibly be so phucking stupid?

I sure hope they read that. They could "F" up a rock.

JC CP-19

I think I need to change my name back to Sleeper CP it's easier to type.

 

[No Butt No Putt]

Good question..

And what's with the moderated vs paying for non moderated?

RD

Non-Moderated = whatever goes

 

[Baja Big Dog]

Is this for real???

 

[No Butt No Putt]

Is this for real???

Its for real bud.

 

[RitcheyRch]

What a lame response.

Imagine the nightmare of maintaining the database that references subscription names to screen names.

Pisses me off since just made it to 11K posts.

 

[shippingguy]

Unbelievable. Any way to make more $$$

 

[That Guy]

How will they determine who subsribes? I mean, we subscribe to hotboat mag, does that mean only one of us can be a member? :smackhead

...seems like a logistical nightmare to me....who is going to verify screen names to subscriptions....

 

[That Guy]

.....and does everyone start off as new members....

 

[RiverDave]

.....and does everyone start off as new members....

I don't know how many I had, but there goes 18000 - 20,000 informative posts by me.. LOL

RD

 

[Retired Member]

Why would they take the site down while they redisign? Just do it on the back side of the servers till it's ready to go.

 

[That Guy]

I don't know how many I had, but there goes 18000 - 20,000 informative posts by me.. LOL

RD

It's all part of my master plan to catch up with you in post count....

 

[Scott E]

Why would they take the site down while they redisign? Just do it on the back side of the servers till it's ready to go.

Yep. Any decent software/hardware guy knows that...

 

[lebel409]

One question...What are they gonna do with the $80.00?

 

[Scott E]

How will they determine who subsribes? I mean, we subscribe to hotboat mag, does that mean only one of us can be a member? :smackhead

I posted this in another thread but here are my thoughts as a software guy:

From an application deployment standpoint it will make more sense to start fresh and require new registrations. When registering new the user will have to input some type of information that identifies them as a subscriber, usually a customer ID number that is on all magazine subscription labels...

 

[SoCal Detail]

Well I think when they see a decline in subscriptions this coming year I think then they will realize. I worked P/T for a music publication for 10 years they tried the same thing only to fold a year later. This was a 20 year publication, The original owner later made it an online publication. You see businesses everyday make the same mistake, The people on Hotboat were good people, I have made alot of connections as well as customers and friends from at site. Im sure this is one of the first bad moves the new staff is going to make before folding. Mark

 

[Magic34]

Why would they take the site down while they redisign? Just do it on the back side of the servers till it's ready to go.

That's what we do.

 

[PVHCA]

Not trying to defend HB, but obviously they paid good money for the company and are trying to recoup cash and this is probably one way to do it. As a business owner I would have approached this in a much different way, they should have felt out their subscibers and .com participants and found out how we felt about paying for the forums' usage and site, I'll bet most of us would have ponied up a few bucks a month to continue this type of forum and way of communicating with the boating/off roading community. I can only imagine the damage they have caused by going about this in the wrong manner, just my $.02

 

[shippingguy]

Not trying to defend HB, but obviously they paid good money for the company and are trying to recoup cash and this is probably one way to do it. As a business owner I would have approached this in a much different way, they should have felt out their subscibers and .com participants and found out how we felt about paying for the forums' usage and site, I'll bet most of us would have ponied up a few bucks a month to continue this type of forum and way of communicating with the boating/off roading community. I can only imagine the damage they have caused by going about this in the wrong manner, just my $.02

I would have to agree with you. The way they handled the situation makes NO SENSE!!

 

[SoCal Detail]

You can up revenue by increasing advertising costs, not nickel and dime your true customers?

 

[mbrown2]

Why would they take the site down while they redisign? Just do it on the back side of the servers till it's ready to go.

Why bring logic into this dude....

Does'nt google bring down their portal to do redesigns.....

I just cannot believe a company would shut their doors the way they did and expect subscribership and following to not be impacted...

You just picture the guy or gal three months ago covering the strategic plan on a PPT in some conference room....

"In December we are going to shut down the website and completely move to a pay model and at the same time ban folks that don't fit the Hot Boat profile".......no one speaks up and asks "what happens to the following and site sponsors and the sponsors investment" .....and just crickets....no one sees the train wreck .....what a great plan to kick off 2008 when all markets included performance boating are supposed to be in a down cycle...

Yeah....great idea a month before the 2008 Boat shows....idiots I tell you.

 

[Havaduner]

I'll bet most of us would have ponied up a few bucks a month to continue this type of forum and way of communicating with the boating/off roading community. I can only imagine the damage they have caused by going about this in the wrong manner, just my $.02

Really? I think just the opposite. While I enjoyed reading/posting on several subjects over there, I cant imagine paying some sort of subscription to have the ability to use the site. Too many others out there for free. Am I in the minority on this?

 

[Panic Button]

They can't keep the website up for more than a week without a problem, and they want you to trust them with your banking/Credit Card info???

 

[mbrown2]

Not trying to defend HB, but obviously they paid good money for the company and are trying to recoup cash and this is probably one way to do it. As a business owner I would have approached this in a much different way, they should have felt out their subscibers and .com participants and found out how we felt about paying for the forums' usage and site, I'll bet most of us would have ponied up a few bucks a month to continue this type of forum and way of communicating with the boating/off roading community. I can only imagine the damage they have caused by going about this in the wrong manner, just my $.02

Pay for drama....I can watch the VIEW for free...

The best sites are free sites...

 

[AZJD]

I don't know how many I had, but there goes 18000 - 20,000 informative posts by me.. LOL

RD

Come on! There weren't that many of them that were informative....

 

[Troy McClure]

Really? I think just the opposite. While I enjoyed reading/posting on several subjects over there, I cant imagine paying some sort of subscription to have the ability to use the site. Too many others out there for free. Am I in the minority on this?

I would agree with you here. There are just too many sites to go to. Although I subscribe and I guess would have the free access to the forums, I would think that my usage would shrink over time due to the reduced numbers in there..

 

[Mandelon]

Not trying to defend HB, but obviously they paid good money for the company and are trying to recoup cash and this is probably one way to do it. As a business owner I would have approached this in a much different way, they should have felt out their subscibers and .com participants and found out how we felt about paying for the forums' usage and site, I'll bet most of us would have ponied up a few bucks a month to continue this type of forum and way of communicating with the boating/off roading community. I can only imagine the damage they have caused by going about this in the wrong manner, just my $.02

Come on, why do you think dumping us bunch of bickering goofballs is going to matter? It seems we think we are pretty important....but are we?
I honestly can't see that much revenue being lost dumping most of the forum members. Heck many forum members didn't subscribe to the magazine anyway. It may be more of a liability than an asset.

How much revenue do you think it really brought in? A few thousand a month maybe from banner ads?? Most members were just using the forums for free, lots of them didn't even have boats so they aren't patronizing the businesses that advertise either.

I enjoy River Dave's and HD's and RRL, OP6 and ISL, etc but HB is where the main action was. I think it used to be a pay forum long ago, didn't it?
They certainly could manage it better to be more of an income generator, and that' probably what they will do. Maybe subscription money isn't the best bet, as opposed to advertising income...but that's not my business so I don't know...

I bet the new staff is reading along here, and at the other sites just getting a kick of all the hurt feelings.....oint

 

[throttle]

sounds like the first step in throwing the anchor overboard without a rope...

 

[wolfie]

Sounds to me like they're trying to find a way to get rid of the forum...They must be blind to the fact that their advertisers probably get a lot of business from the non-subscribers.
Sounds like the first pounding of the deathnail in HB Magazine.

 

[RiverDave]

Why bring logic into this dude....

Does'nt google bring down their portal to do redesigns.....

I just cannot believe a company would shut their doors the way they did and expect subscribership and following to not be impacted...

You just picture the guy or gal three months ago covering the strategic plan on a PPT in some conference room....

"In December we are going to shut down the website and completely move to a pay model and at the same time ban folks that don't fit the Hot Boat profile".......no one speaks up and asks "what happens to the following and site sponsors and the sponsors investment" .....and just crickets....no one sees the train wreck .....what a great plan to kick off 2008 when all markets included performance boating are supposed to be in a down cycle...

Yeah....great idea a month before the 2008 Boat shows....idiots I tell you.

Good post..

They can't keep the website up for more than a week without a problem, and they want you to trust them with your banking/Credit Card info???

Now there's something that hasn't been touched on yet, and it makes a VERY valid point/concern.

RD

 

[ShockwaveBobSquarePants]

I've probably purchased 6-8 HB magazines over the last 5 years, so they're really not losing a cent when I leave.

 

[RitcheyRch]

Need more high performance boating magazines.

I received Car Craft, Hot Rod, Super Chevy and Popular Hot Rodding every month but only one boating magazine.

 

[shadow]

I've probably purchased 6-8 HB magazines over the last 5 years, so they're really not losing a cent when I leave.

Not to mention if you ever want to check out this months HB magazine
you can just pick up any old issue from the bathroom and skim through it just change the gel schemes/colors all the rest is the same every month.

Not to mention it's always a month late so it's all old news.

 

[ChumpChange]

Yep. Any decent software/hardware guy knows that...

I just got mine yesterday. I was going to post how good it was but I was banned.